Renting and not giving keys to landlord

Basher said:
I wouldn't be too comfortable if I was a landlord, no matter what the law says.
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The law is the law,If its well within the law and the tenant is up to date with his payment i don't see what the issue is as long as the tenant puts back the old locks when his time is done there,Why should the landlord or letting agents have full access to enter your rented place at any time?

I've heard about this before,landlords just turning up and letting themselves in without even knocking.
 
crinkleshoes said:
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When it should have gone towards the first 20% of my home... but no... unless you've got that up-front deposit for an already over-inflated house price... you're forced to fund the same thing for someone else and be left with nothing.
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Stop spending money on other stuff then and do what most folk do....
 
Libya had it right with a home being a human right. There should be no profit making in the basics of human life, a home and water. Plenty of other things to make a profit on but not the basic human need.
 
crinkleshoes said:
I just wish I had something to show for it... all that money... all that portion of my life I have exchanged for money has gone to fund SOMEONE ELSES "investment" that they have given me the "privilege" to live in and I see this happening so much that it sickens me.
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This is why the poor will always stay poor. This 'loserish' mentality, this odd mindset, it's like some strand of DNA.

On topic, completely unreasonable to change the locks and not give a set to agent or landlord. You'd be out pretty swift regardless.
 
Tosno said:
Libya had it right with a home being a human right. There should be no profit making in the basics of human life, a home and water. Plenty of other things to make a profit on but not the basic human need.
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Genuine question here is there's no profit slowed why would anyone make anything but the most basic?

When you see a housing estate being built there's usually x amount cheap terreced houses, y of medium detached houses and z of big detached houses with nice gardens.


They charge more for the bigger ones and make a bigger profit on them because people want to live there but if they didn't make a profit (or a limited profit per hosue) why would they not just pack the site with the maximum number of terreced houses possible?

Take away profit and you take away the drive to improve
 
You can go ahead and change the locks but it will probably put you in breach of your tenancy agreement.
I don't think there is anything in law that prevents you from doing this, and if the landlord wants to do anything about you breaching the tenancy agreement I expect he'll need to get an injunction or something similar to take you to task over it.

With that said it's really not cricket. There's no law about a lot of specific actions, but that doesn't make them appropriate to carry out. It will look like a deliberate attempt to break the agreement, remove any trust, and generally appear underhand to the landlord.
 
OP: You think you can change the locks on someone else's property and deny them access? Speaking as a Landlord in the past, I can assure you, you would be out on your ear pretty sharp style if it was my property.
 
As a landlord, this is how I see it:

The law allows you to change the locks. No matter what the tenancy agreement states it doesn't supersede the law (although we have it in our tenancy agreement that you can't)

The landlord may need access to the property in case of emergency. Without giving your landlord clear access to the property it may very well be justifiable to break the locks to get in. You'd be liable for costs to replace if you don't give them keys.

When you leave, your deposit could be used to replace the locks if he feels they're not up to standard or some money used to get extra keys cut if he feels they are - if you don't provide him with the number he requires.

Additionally, it's quite clear the process a landlord should follow when arranging access to the property. Unless they've broken it already it shouldn't be assumed that they're going to just turn up in your kitchen helping themselves to coffee as there's plenty of reasonable landlords out there.
 
RoyMi6 said:
As a landlord, this is how I see it:

The law allows you to change the locks. No matter what the tenancy agreement states it doesn't supersede the law (although we have it in our tenancy agreement that you can't)

The landlord may need access to the property in case of emergency. Without giving your landlord clear access to the property it may very well be justifiable to break the locks to get in. You'd be liable for costs to replace if you don't give them keys.

When you leave, your deposit could be used to replace the locks if he feels they're not up to standard or some money used to get extra keys cut if he feels they are - if you don't provide him with the number he requires.

Additionally, it's quite clear the process a landlord should follow when arranging access to the property. Unless they've broken it already it shouldn't be assumed that they're going to just turn up in your kitchen helping themselves to coffee as there's plenty of reasonable landlords out there.
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Don't forget there are insurance requirements when it comes to locks. Also, the tenant will have to pay for new locks on departure regardless because the landlord has no keys for the next tenant.
 
String said:
Don't forget there are insurance requirements when it comes to locks. Also, the tenant will have to pay for new locks on departure regardless because the landlord has no keys for the next tenant.
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That's a good point - when getting buildings/landlord insurance they ask you what type of lock you have, and some insurance companies requires specific types.

While you might see the lock as inadequate or strange, it could be that it's been specifically requested/declared and the insurance could be void if that came up.

I'd be dropping the hammer on you if that happened to me.

And yeah, regarding costs on departure I was imply that OR that he'd have to provide copies to the landlord himself, at his own cost, if the landlord agreed that's fine. In my opinion the ONLY way that's going to happen if you start a conversation with the landlord nice and early and keep it amicable.
 
crinkleshoes said:
So... that means you think it's A-OK for people to profit off the lives of others?
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Yes of course it is.

There is nothing bad or wrong with profiting from other people's lives. It's how business works. It's how we get the nice shiny things we all like.

Profiteering is a different story.
 
crinkleshoes said:
You do not see a problem with this? :rolleyes:

It baffles me how so many people seem to be OK with being raped on a daily basis.

1 person can "invest" in 100 houses and happilly sit on their arse doing nothing, living of the lives, work and efforts of those 100 people/families.

While the families who have been forced to rent by a system they've been born into that has no desire to support them, are force into an over-priced rental system, paying someone else's mortgage for them instead of being able to put the same money into their own home.

I see 3 or 4 people in a chain where there should be only two.

House builder -> home habitant

The current chain is

House builder -> mortgage company -> landlord -> home habitant

Cut out the middle men... especially the mortgage company who will quite happily charge you 4x or more the actual cost of the house for the privilege of "helping" you get the roof over your head... when they are the ones who have actively artificially inflated the cost of houses in the first place.

It would be kindof OK if you could at least build your own shack on a random piece of land... but even if you do it on your own family-owned property... it'll be knocked down... severe bias anyone?

And... you are OK with this rape?



The system is broken... those who see the problem and acknowledge it are either self-defeating, egoic sickofants or cowards.

Those who haven't seen the idiocy in it all... simply haven't or refuse to open their eyes.
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How did the landlord afford to buy those houses? Would it not be through hard work?
 
You can change the locks on the doors. If you have a fixed term contract such as 12 months, there isn't much they can do, as long as you respond to reasonable requests for access. You will need to restore the original locks on departure though.

For those saying you'll be kicked out asap: I doubt it. It costs money to find new tenants and if you're an otherwise good tenant, why would they care?
 
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coolsurfer said:
Don't be a tw@t. Give him a copy of the key's. You don't want to do that then buy your own place.
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Why should he? Its the OP's home and he has the right to feel safe in it. The landlord should not be accessing the property without arranging it with the OP and therefore has no need for keys. There is nothing unreasonable about wanting complete control over access to your home.
 
The property is RENTED, meaning you are paying somebody else to have a roof over your head. But that somebody else still 100% owns that property. Changing the locks is something you should inform them of and provide them with the new key to THEIR property. Or you could be recieving a lovely eviction notice, which is perfectly legal for them to do.

See that word? Legal? Just because you can doesn't mean you should.
Curious as to why you feel you need to change the locks anyway. As it is definately a need to know thing for both landlord and whichever company he pays to manage the letting. As others have said, check the small print of the contract, it may say you can't change locks. If it does, more the fool you for not reading fully or chosing to ignore a Legally ( see it again) binding contract.
 
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Thompson_NCL said:
Why should he? Its the OP's home and he has the right to feel safe in it. The landlord should not be accessing the property without arranging it with the OP and therefore has no need for keys. There is nothing unreasonable about wanting complete control over access to your home.
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If you don't feel safe in your home because you're scared your landlord will randomly turn up, you should probably move.
 
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